The invention relates to an air jet weaving machine with compressed air supply components for supplying air nozzles with compressed air. The compressed air supply components comprise a compressed air infeed line with a main shut-off valve and an air filter as well as solenoid valves and pressure regulators for controlling and regulating the compressed air which is supplied to the air nozzles.
Air jet weaving machines are equipped with a large number of air nozzles. A weft thread, which is wound up on a storage drum as a supply, is drawn off through at least one main nozzle, which is charged with compressed air, and is inserted into the open shed. Depending on the weaving conditions, such as the length of the weft thread to be inserted, the insertion frequency and the textile properties of the weft yarn, a plurality of main nozzles can be arranged one after the other in the insertion direction between the thread supply and the shed entrance as a group of so-called pre-nozzles and main nozzles. The pre-nozzles and main nozzles can be present doubly or multiply, depending on the number of weft threads to be inserted. An automatic control system ensures that the weft threads in the main nozzles are accelerated at the correct time with the ideal amount of air. The further transport of the weft threads through the shed is taken over by relay nozzles, which are actuated in groups in order to save on compressed air. The relay nozzles are fed from one or more compressed air reservoirs, which have different pressure levels in order to reduce the consumption of compressed air. At least one stretching nozzle provides for the stretching of the inserted weft thread until the beat up of the reed. In addition, blower and suction nozzles can be provided in order to remove and/or to hold in a definite position in the shed faulty weft threads and/or in order to dispose of the severed weft thread at the shed exit. For an economical operation the air pressure, the amount of air and the timing for all air nozzles must be matched to the yarns to be processed and to the weaving width. The yarns to be processed, for example simple or effect yarns in different finenesses of cotton, polyester, glass or the like, can have quite different properties.
An air jet weaving machine has a large number of compressed air supply components for supplying the various air nozzles with compressed air. The compressed air supply components comprise among other things a compressed air infeed line with a main shut-off valve and one or more air filters as well as solenoid valves and pressure regulators for controlling and regulating the compressed air which is supplied to the individual air nozzles. Furthermore, the compressed air supply components can comprise so-called time controllers, which are automatic pressure regulation systems for the control of the weft insertion. In the air jet weaving machines of the prior art the compressed air supply components are integrated into the weaving machine chassis. As a rule the main shut-off valve and the air filters as well as certain pressure regulators, for example the pressure regulators for the supply of the relay nozzles, are integrated into the chassis wall at the insertion side. Various other installations at the chassis wall however make access to these compressed air supply components more difficult. Maintenance work or settings, such as for example settings of a time controller for different weaving conditions, or system expansions, are thereby made more difficult.
It is an object of the invention to improve the accessibility of the compressed air supply components and to facilitate maintenance work, settings and system expansions at the components.
In the air jet weaving machine in accordance with the invention some of the compressed air supply components are collected in a separate compressed air supply unit which is arranged to be separate from the rest of the weaving machine. The separate compressed air supply unit comprises at least the compressed air infeed line with the main shut-off valve and air filter as well as some of the solenoid valves and pressure regulators, for example pressure regulators for supplying the main nozzles, the relay nozzles and/or the blowing and suction nozzles and/or a pressure regulator for the compressed air supply of the system, which serves among other things to supply the main nozzles with compressed air during the threading in. Solenoid valves can be provided in the separate compressed air supply unit for example for controlling the compressed air supply of the blowing and suction nozzles or of the main nozzles during the threading in.
The compressed air supply components in the separate compressed air supply unit preferably also comprise time controllers, which are automatic pressure regulation systems for the control of the weft insertion.
The separate compressed air supply unit is preferably designed as a module which is accessible from all sides, for example as a console, rack or battery frame. Covers, such as side walls and lids, are preferably removably designed. The separate compressed air supply unit is preferably designed with sufficient base freedom that inlet and outlet lines can take place from the base side of the compressed air supply unit. The inlet and outlet lines of the compressed air supply unit and the electrical connection lines of the compressed air supply unit are preferably designed flexibly so that the separate compressed air supply unit can be freely positioned within the line lengths which are available.
In a further preferred embodiment, compressed air supply components of a plurality of air jet weaving machines are collected in a single, separately arranged compressed air supply unit.
The air jet weaving machine in accordance with the invention, in which important compressed air supply components are collected in a separately arranged compressed air supply unit, has a substantially improved accessibility of the corresponding compressed air supply components. Maintenance and setting work on the compressed air supply components as well as system expansions and modifications are thereby greatly simplified and facilitated. In the design of the separately arranged compressed air supply unit, ergonomic considerations can better be taken into account, which was hardly possible in the previously usual integration of the compressed air supply components into the chassis wall at the insertion side and into other parts of the weaving machine chassis. The possibility of largely freely positioning the separate compressed air supply unit is a further great advantage, in that the position can be adapted to the local space conditions taking ergonomic considerations into account. Furthermore, the largely freely choosable positioning also allows an optimizing of the line lengths of the compressed air distribution lines and, associated therewith, an optimizing of the pressure drop in the compressed air distribution lines. In addition the weaving machine in accordance with the invention permits the arrangement of the individual compressed air supply components in the separate compressed air supply unit to be optimized according to function and manufacturing technology, which has advantages both with respect to reliability and with respect to the manufacturing costs. Additional economic advantages result when compressed air supply components of a plurality of air jet weaving machines are collected in a single, separately arranged compressed air supply unit.
A further advantage of the invention consists in that through the separate arrangement of the compressed air supply unit outside the rest of the weaving machine, detrimental influences on sensitive components of the compressed air supply, such as radiated heat in the drive region or machine oscillations, are completely eliminated.
The invention will be explained in the following in more detail with reference to the exemplary embodiment and with reference to the drawings.